Well, I'm glad I watched that. The Denver Nuggets just lost to the Phoenix Suns 132-117. What's weird is I'm not even sure how they did it. The Nuggets absolutely blew the Suns out in the first half, leading by fourteen after one quarter and nineteen at the half. And it looked easy for them, in an up-and-down game that gave Denver plenty of wide-open shots.
The Suns won by fifteen, so I guess however good Denver's run was in the first half, theirs was that much better. But they didn't seem that impressive, which I suppose they'll take with a 15-point victory. My thoughts on the game:
1. My favorite part of the game had to be the complete contempt in which the Altitude accouncers (Chris Marlowe and Scott Hastings) held Suns point guard Steve Nash. At one point late in the first half, Nash was on Iverson, one of them pointed out how Iverson knows he can score on Nash whenever he wants. While that's true, don't they know they're supposed to couch white players' deficiencies using meaningless statements like, say, "Nash is actually a very solid team defender"?
2. Going in, I was excited to see how Shaq has changed the Suns. I don't know if he has or not. He didn't seem all that central to Phoenix's game plan. On the other hand, he had 20 and 12.
3. A couple weeks ago I was waiting for a haircut inside Great Clips, which helps explain why I'm single. Anyway, some guy was chatting up the haircutress about how Carmelo Anthony's the reason the Nuggets struggle, and how he doesn't make his teammates any better.
Look, I understand Carmelo hasn't won a major championship in a few years, but what games was that guy watching? Anthony has improved tremendously this year, and he forces a lot fewer shots than he used to. He has the best field-goal percentage of his career, he's finally rebounding at a respectable rate (7.3 per game), and though he has his lowest scoring average in three years, it's still the fourth-best in the NBA. There's room for improvement, but he plays hard, shoots well in the clutch, and has jelled with Allen Iverson better than almost every oberserver thought possible. Plus he's friggin' 23. Give the guy a break.
4. I don't know what it is, but I like what I've seen from Kenyon Martin lately. He doesn't have all his explosiveness back (and at 30, he may never have it), but he hustles and seems to do a better job fitting in now. For example, I didn't see him jack up a bunch of 18-footers tonight like he used to. Man, I hated that. For now, he's accepting his role and playing to his strengths.
5. J.R. Smith is awesome, and I love how he fits in on the team as a third or fourth scoring option. He made three circus shots he was fouled on on his way to 23 points.
6. It's good to see Nene healthy and back on the floor, but he's still a ways off from truly contributing. He did look good in his brief stint, though.
7. Question for you guys: should both teams usually get the same number of free throws in a game? I had a roommate in college who reffed intramural games and told me about that principle as though I should have known it already. To me it makes no sense: whoever gets fouled while shooting should take free throws, and let's just leave it at that.
Phoenix shot 36 free throws to Denver's 27, and made a ton of them (33 makes for the Suns vs. 16 for Denver). But the refs gave the Nuggets a fair shake for the most part. (Of course, it wouldn't be an NBA game without a few calls that make you say, "whaaaaaaaaaat?") Anyway, I thought it was interesting considering how the Altitude crew bemoaned Phoenix's edge at the stripe.
8. Nash (36 points, eight assists) and Amare Stoudemire (41 ponts, 14 boards) absolutely lit it up for Phoenix, but I was disappointed to see how much the beastly Stoudemire flops these days. Come on, man.
Comments
My favorite part of the game was Nene getting in Amare's face, not to mention his awesome dunk over Amare. I wish Nene could've got some more playing time, he seemed to be dishing out a level of toughness in the low post that the Nuggets have been missing all season. Hopefully he can get healthy enough to contribute for the Nuggets in the playoffs.
As much as I dislike Joe Crawford, I actually thought they did a pretty good job last night. (On a side note, what is Crawford's deal with trying to stare everyone down? Man I really hate that!)One of the reasons the Nuggets lost is because no one on the team could make any free throws, and the Suns couldn't miss any free throws.
I agree with you on the Altitude announcers. I think Hastings and Marlowe do a good job of telling it like it is, which is why if the Nuggets are ever on national TV I still watch the Altitude broadcast because I like the commentary from Hastings and Marlowe so much more. (Maybe I just enjoy their Nuggets bias.)
I agree with you on K-Mart. The last couple of weeks he has been playing at another level. We seem to play a lot better when he is running on the fast break.
At least we have a chance for some revenge tonight. Hopefully they will get the win. Go Nuggets!
Well, the Nuggets were dominated in the second half, but it wasn't like they totally let up. I think it was late in the third, when the Suns were still clawing their way back in, and Carmelo missed two really short shots (Hastings called them lay-ups right at the rim, though I thought they were too tough to be called lay-ups). I thought that was sort of emblematic of our second half. I mean, yeah, you gotta make those, but at least the team wasn't settling for long jumpers or anything.
Crawford...what can you say...I mean, the guy tried to pick a fight with Tim Duncan. Tim Freakin' Duncan. I did think the refs were fine last night, though you could tell they were losing patience with that completely inept clock operator.
I was really disappointed with the Nuggets inability to defend the pick and roll. Everyone in the whole freaken arena knew the pick and roll was coming but the Nuggets got beat on it every single time. Actually, they usually lose when the other team is committed to running the pick and roll. The were destroyed by the Jazz the last time they played them and the Jazz ran the exact same play every single time, just like the Suns did last night.